Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko at the council's regular news briefing in Kyiv today:
"Russia continues to concentrate troops near the border with Ukraine in the woods near the village of Veydelevka of Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, which is 10 kilometers away from the Ukrainian-Russian state border. The deployment of military groups of armed forces of the Russian Federation [there] comprises 50 units of armored equipment and around 2,000 troops."
A prelude to Russian recognition?
Ukrainian Art Group Goes Viral With Music Videos Mocking Separatists
A new Ukrainian collective is making waves online with biting musical parodies decrying Russia's support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The group, which goes by the name of Mirko Sablich, was created several months ago to counter what it calls Russian "propaganda" about the deadly conflict in Ukraine's east.
"We don't take part in military action. We don't know how to shoot," group member Yevhen Tatarchenko told RFE/RL. "Words are our weapon."
Despite its relatively short existence, Mirko Sablich has already authored a string of clips, each of which has drawn tens of thousands of viewers.
The group writes its own songs and uses a collage of Soviet film excerpts and footage from war-torn eastern Ukraine to illustrate them.
Mirko Sablich's latest clip is titled Novorossia Anthem, in reference to the name separatists in Donbas give to the swath of land in southern and eastern Ukraine they say they are seeking to control:
